


A Destruction of Cats

by HGranger89



Series: Seventeen cats [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Prompt Fic, Ron Weasley Bashing, Severus Snape Has a Heart, Severus Snape Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28838565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HGranger89/pseuds/HGranger89
Summary: Severus Snape has been released from St. Mungo's after recovering from that damned snaked bite. Hogwarts is inhabitable so he returns to his childhood home only to find that a destruction of tomcats has taken over his basement.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Series: Seventeen cats [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2114604
Comments: 9
Kudos: 76





	A Destruction of Cats

**Author's Note:**

> I've re-joined a little Writer's Group in the Greater London area (we meet online) and was given the writing prompt: "There were seventeen cats living in his basement." ... and well here we go! 
> 
> I have two other prompts that have spawned into parts 2 and 3 that will follow in this collection. Enjoy! xx

There were seventeen cats living in Severus' basement. The feral creatures had broken in through the rotting cellar door and taken over his former potions laboratory space; for how long, he was unsure. Luckily the wizard had heavily warded the room, preventing the wretched beasts from accessing the main house and containing the carnage, though the scent of cat piss was starting to permeate the ground floor. 

As it was, Severus had not returned to the hovel he’d been raised in since the summer he had been forced to house Pettigrew and make that damned unbreakable vow to Narcissa Malfoy – more than two years ago. Recently discharged from St. Mungos, healed of a near-deadly snakebite, Severus returned to the only home he had ever known besides Hogwarts, which was currently the only place less inhabitable than his dwelling. Sighing, he drew out his wand and managed to chase away the destruction of tomcats with some well-aimed hexes and jinxes, though they did not give up their den easily or willingly, as evidenced by the angry, red claw marks on his forearms and face.

He would have to go to the hardware store and buy a new cellar door for his muggle house, but in the meantime, new wards were set to keep out all forms of creatures, feral or not. Just as he began to clean the room, he heard the tell-tale crack of apparition in the garden.

"Severus," the sweet voice called. "I have retrieved all of your belongings from Hogwarts as promised!"

The Potions Master poked his head through the rotted cellar door. "Thank you, Miss Granger. Just leave things there, and I'll deal with them in a bit."

Hermione wrinkled her nose at the smell coming up through the cellar door. "Minerva had everything in the Headmaster's office and quarters packed up for you by the house-elves. Unfortunately, your lab in the dungeons is still blocked off from the rest of the castle by the rubble, so it's inaccessible for now, and the castle's foundation may be condemned ..." She stopped speaking abruptly and looked down at him. "Oh Lord! Severus, what happened to your face?"

"That's fine… as I'm sure you can smell, my lab is currently not fit for purpose…" he said, ignoring her question.

"Not to be rude, but … what died down there?"

"That has yet to be ascertained. Definitely a pile of rodents, but the smell is mostly from a destruction of feral tomcats that decided to turn my cellar into their clubhouse," he sneered.

Hermione stifled her giggles with her hands while her eyes looked up at him with a mixture of delight and pity. "Well, I have nowhere to be. Would you like some help?"

"There's no need Miss – "

"Hermione. Honestly, Severus, you have let me use your given name during my visits to St. Mungos. I must insist."

Severus nodded in acquiescence. The chit had visited him once a week for the last several months of his recovery. First, just waiting for him to wake up so she could apologise for leaving him on the floor of the Shrieking Shack until going back nearly twelve hours later to recover his body and finding a weak and thread pulse. Then to check on his progress, helping him with his speech therapy and bringing him new reading material. She deserved to have her wishes honoured. She knew her mind.

"Hermione, there's no need to stay and help…"

"It's fine. If I'm honest, I need a break from the Burrow. Molly and Ron have become insufferable."

"Well, far be it for me to convince you that cleaning up cat feces and dead rodents is less tolerable than time with the Weasleys," he drawled, leading her down the stairs to the cellar.

Hermione looked like she would gag on the smell and looked around horrified as the piles of feces, dead rodents and broken glass with potions ingredients rotting on the stone subfloor.

"It's amazing they didn't die trying to consume the potions ingredients."

"Yes, that would have been unfortunate," he said sarcastically. 

"Would you like to clean up cat corpses on top of all this mess?” 

"Fair enough. Why don't you cast freshening charms while I start cleaning."

"Will you please let me heal your cuts first?"

"Yes, fine. Damn beasts."

Hermione summoned a vial of dittany from her beaded bag and gave it to him to rub into his forearms while she sang the Half-Blood Prince's healing spell over his face, healing the cuts on his face.

Severus closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of her hair, peaches, that temporarily washed over him, blocking out the awful stench in the cellar. Once she was finished, he opened his eyes and looked down at her petite frame so close to his own. It would be so easy to lean down and kiss her as he had wanted to for weeks now, but instead, he cleared his throat and stepped back, murmuring his thanks.

Looking down at her face, he thought he saw a glimmer of disappointment. Dismissing the idea, he turned away from her and began banishing piles of shite from the floor.

They worked in silence that felt oppressive rather than companionable, and finally, Severus determined to break asking, "What has Weasley and his mother done now to make you flee their presence?” 

"Well, now that you've been discharged from St. Mungo's, and the Hogwarts Governors have secured the adequate funding for the engineers and builders to commence work on repairing Hogwarts, there's nothing for me in Britain until the school re-opens. Minerva told me that the earliest date is January, but possibly not until next Autumn. So, I have booked a portkey to Australia. It leaves next Friday."

A small thrill shot through him after hearing that she had remained in the country for him. "Ah, and I imagine Mr. Weasley was less than pleased?"

"You could say that," she ranted. "Ron lost his mind, shouting that I am his girlfriend and I cannot just leave him to go to Australia. Like he thinks he owns me! Then Molly chimed in and said she understood that I wanted to return to school but that I should use this time to plan my wedding to Ron. Wedding? What wedding! Honestly. I think grief has made them delusional because Ron and I aren't dating; one kiss in the middle of a battle does not mean we are suddenly together. I had just assumed he'd realized we were both caught up in the heat of the moment. He doesn't treat me like a girlfriend, and now suddenly I should be planning a wedding? God."

Her chest was heaving, and her face was red with frustration, and her eyes were glassy with fury. She was …breathtaking … he thought.

"Did you set them straight?" Severus inquired.

"Absolutely," she said. "I informed Ronald that I could hardly be his girlfriend since he never asked me and that my top priorities above all else were finding my parents and restoring their memories and then completing my N.E.W.T.s. Then I stormed out of the Burrow and apparated to Hogwarts and came here."

Severus was pleased with her response, though he wasn't quite sure why, so he ignored the feeling and continued cleaning up the broken glass and vanishing rotten potion ingredients.

A few hours later, they had cleaned everything up, freshened the air, and properly disinfected the floors and walls.

"Thank you for your help," Severus said sincerely. "I have wards on the entrance, but I should go to the hardware store and purchase a new door."

Hermione nodded, "and I should return to the Burrow. Molly will have a conniption if I don't return in time for dinner."

"Yes, well, just remember that you are an adult, and Molly Weasley is not your mother. If you need a place to escape before Friday, Spinner's End is always open to you, Hermione."

"Thank you, Severus," she said, giving him a watery smile. "I will keep that in mind."

The Potions Master walked his former student up the steps and into his back garden and was surprised when she gave him a quick, tight hug around his middle before stepping back, turning and apparating away.

Slightly bemused, Severus returned to the main part of the house to shower away the stench of cleaning the cellar before walking to the local hardware store. As he walked back home with takeout from the nearby chippy, Severus looked forward to a quiet night in. The new door would be delivered tomorrow morning, and he had browsed the shop for a bit considering further upgrades Spinner's End would need whether or not he planned to sell the place. He pulled out a plate, cutlery and glass in the kitchen and started to wash them by hand when he saw a desolate figure standing in the back garden.

Dropping the plate back into the sink, Severus walked to the back door and called out, "Hermione? What's wrong?"

Suddenly he found himself with an armful of a sobbing witch, her frizzy hair tickling his chin and her tears staining his jumper. He pulled her inside the house, walked her to the sitting room and sat down on the dusty sofa as she continued to sob in his lap.

"What happened at the Burrow," he asked, trying to keep his tone soft, but he was furious.

"I'm not welcome there anymore," she hiccupped, "and Harry's staying there too, so I have nowhere to stay."

"You can stay here," he said firmly, "but tell me what happened."

"Ron misunderstood me! I – I thought it was clear that I didn't want a relationship, but I guess he thought I meant that we weren't dating because he hadn’t asked me. So when I returned to the Burrow, he and Molly set up a sort of romantic dinner in the garden, and he asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said no. He shouted at me, and then I shouted and told him I never wanted to marry him. Then he went up to Ginny's room where I slept, and grabbed my beaded bag, threw it at me and told me to leave. Everyone just stood there watching. Even – even Harry didn't help me," she sobbed.

Severus clenched his jaw, wishing he could go to the Burrow and throttle Potter and Weasley. Still, instead, he forced his hands to remain light and brought them around her to hug her small body close to his, petting her hair and whispering soothing words of comfort in her hear, inhaling the scent of peach mixed tinged with the smell of salty tears.

Eventually, she cried herself out and started to fall asleep in his arms when his stomach made its protests known and grumbled loudly. Startled, Hermione began giggling and then Severus' stomach growled again, and she nearly fell off his lap as she laughed.

"Yes, well, I had just brought dinner home when I saw you," he said lightly. "I haven't had time to eat yet."

Hermione looked up at him apologetically before realizing that she was sitting in her former Professor's lap and scrambled to stand up. Feeling strange without the feel of her in his arms, Severus also stood and went to inspect what he suspected were now inedible fish and chips.

Dumping the cold, greasy food in the bin, he found the drawer he kept take-out menus in and pulled out one for Indian. Showing it to her, she nodded, and he picked up the ancient telephone that had been attached to the wall his entire life and dialled the number. Unfortunately, the phone number for the restaurant he had often patronized two years ago was disconnected, so he threw the menu in the bin on top of the fish & chips and found another one. That restaurant was thankfully still open, and he passed the menu to Hermione while he ordered pork vindaloo for himself, and then he looked at her, eyebrow raised as she pointed to the Aloo Gobi and Saag Paneer. Then he rolled his eyes as she chewed on her bottom lip and pointed at the onion bhajis. 

Ordering for her, he then added, "Oh, and the Gulab Jamun's please," Severus said, looking at her indulgently. Hermione smiled and did a small dance around his kitchen. As he confirmed the address and hung up the phone, he spotted the sway of her hips and wished he could end all of his remaining days this way.


End file.
